Meta

Subscribe

My new iphone

I think it is fair to say that I’m an Apple aficionado. All our computers at home are macs (1 desktop 2 laptops). My wife and I both use iPhones. We have used apple products exclusively for almost twenty years.

Anyway, I was really looking forward to the new iPhone. I had been daydreaming about it before gizmodo got the prototype phone, but once I could actually see what it was going to be, I was on board 100%.

I got one reserved at our local Apple store for the release day last Thursday.

Naively thinking that the reservation system would somehow alleviate the crazy, multiple-hour-line circus that occurs at the release of every new Apple product, I swung by the store on a little gap I had between cases at about 10:30 am.

YEAH, RIGHT…

The line was probably 300 sweating bodies strong and not moving visibly. I had only an hour to kill, so waiting was clearly not an option. “Not to worry,” I said to myself, “I’ll just come back after I pick Traci from the airport at 5:00 tonite, surely the lines will have subsided by then!”

YEAH, RIGHT!!

At about 5:30 when we showed up again, the line was maybe 100 people and when I asked a kid about three spots from getting in the door, he said he had been in line for over an hour. Again, I can’t wait around. Traci has been traveling for the past thirty-or-so hours, hasn’t had a shower in that time, and really doesn’t feel like “hanging-out” for a few hours while I stand in line, then get my phone activated, etc.

At this point I am feeling a little pissed-off. The whole reservation system seems to have been completely ineffectual. I can’t get in to pick up the phone I reserved, and at the close of the business day, my reservation is over – my phone goes into the general inventory and I get to stand in line like everybody else. (The non-reservation line was MUCH longer, btw).

I called the store just to see if they really were going to follow through on the plan and rob me of the phone I had reserved. The answer was a flat “yes, sorry…” Not particularly satisfying. HOWEVER, the kid said that at that moment (~7:55pm) there were only about five people in the reservation line and at that with their full-staff on hand, it should be a quick deal to get in and grab a phone before closing.

EXCELLENT!

Moments later I’m screaming down the freeway toward the Apple store for the third time in one day.

I pulled into a parking spot right in front of the door, marched right up to the little barrier they had set up and was immediately admitted to the sacred edifice beyond…

Probably fifteen minutes later, iPhone in hand, I was ready to go!! Not too shabby. I used my wife’s upgrade credit, since we used my credit a few months previously to get our thirteen year old a new phone, this added a little complexity to the purchase. An AT&T rep was in the store fixing any account issues that cropped up and deftly handled mine before slamming her laptop closed and rushing out the back door. It was now about 8:35. Not bad at all!

Every time I stand in stupid-long lines to buy the latest Apple gizmo I nearly swear to drop every Apple product I own into a wood chipper and use abaci for my remaining days. But when I finally get in to the store and deal with the staff there, my pain subsides and walk out with a smile on my face. Kudos to them for that amazing ability!

I really don’t understand the utility of keeping the reservations for only one day. What would be wrong with three, or even five days? Especially when there are STILL gigantic lines despite all the reservation business?

Maybe they need some cash in a hurry to offset production costs, and can’t have stock laying around any longer than absolutely necessary. Seems a bit unlikely, but who knows.

So, how is the phone?

I really love it! The display is incredible! Documents are much easier to read, which is huge for me. I get my daily schedule emailed to me every day and on the 3G phone I had to wait for literally several minutes for the PDF to open and render at a zoom level that was readable. The 4phone opens the same pdf’s in seconds, and they are readable right off the bat, at full-page zoom. The camera is great. Good pics and video! I haven’t had anybody to video chat with yet. But I have high hopes there.

Yes, the cellular signal bombs out if you put a death grip on the phone’s case, but I essentially never hold the phone that way while I’m talking, so no issue there.

All in all, I am thoroughly pleased. It was well worth the time, and money!